Work Text:
It started with the simpler things.
For the first two days following his near-death experience with Primordial Seawater, Wriothesley felt appropriately steamrolled, wringed out and a dozen more machinery-related metaphors. Though his wounds have healed in an unnerving instant, his body still felt pained and leaden and demanded rest. So rest he did, secretly savoring the opportunity - even if it occasionally felt like a certain someone was keeping him lying prone with his eyes closed in the infirmary through force of will alone.
On the third day, however, Wriothesley no longer felt like he was committing violence against himself when sitting up. Another day, and he decided to take a walk around the room; another, and Sigewinne declared that he was allowed to leave. By the end of the week, his strength returned in full and he was feeling perfectly normal - or better, considering the rest. But then it just… kept going.
Doors accidentally slammed, papers carelessly crumpled in his grip, a cup chipped from setting it down too harshly. Each time, Wriothesley got mildly annoyed with himself, but the pieces only slid into place the first time he went to the gym again: a punch thrown with a perfectly moderate amount of force snapped one of the chains holding the punching bag in place.
“This feels awfully convenient…” he chuckled to himself and promptly left to send a note to the Iudex of Fontaine.
***
“Increased strength, you say.” Neuvillette spoke with no questioning intonation. By a stroke of luck, that morning’s trial had been canceled, and so he arrived at the Fortress in person, now sitting across the office table from Wriothesley, his newly-minted mate.
“Yes, Neuv. Increased strength. Not something I can’t handle, but would you kindly explain what else this… essence is going to gift me with?” He glanced at his forearm, where one of the Primordial Seawater-contaminated gashes has been: no typical scarring ended up forming, but the new skin was slightly too pale, a little too glossy - and at a certain angle it gave off a blue, scale-patterned sheen.
Neuvillette pressed his fingertips together, gathering thoughts. “It is… it’s not an easy question. The things I do know I just… know, from intuition or memories I’m not sure are mine, and I might not be able to always offer an explanation. And, sadly, I cannot predict how the ichor affects a human specifically. Aside from the entirely metaphysical consequences - the bond of fate, lives tied into one, wounds shared between us-”
Wriothesley looked a little stiff as he spoke, still processing this change, so he moved on. “-aside from that, I know of one change that must affect the Hydro Dragon’s mate, but one can only guess how it would manifest in a human, and by virtue of you being a Vision-bearer you would have little use for it-”
“Just tell me, dear.” Wriothesley took his hand in his, pressing reassuringly.
“The ability to breathe underwater.”
Oh.
“With that, the pair of dragons can live together in a wider variety of environments and more comfortably reproduce.”
It made sense. How glad he was, Wriothesley thought, that something made sense for once.
“I am at once glad that this is nothing new to you, speaking precisely, and yet-” Neuvillette’s words poured like a stream, as if he wasn’t sure if he could continue once he stopped himself. “-though it is not my wants that should be the concern now I cannot help but feel a shadow of disappointment at that. If it manifests in you, it would, of course, differ from the Sourcewater Blessing - inasmuch as it would not be limited by Fontaine’s borders. The spear-stones of Liyue, the lush coral of Inazuma, the wondrous flowers of Sumeru - unconditionally, indefinitely, yours to behold.”
Against his better judgment, Wriothesley inhaled sharply in anticipation.
“So, how do we test that? Do I just leave my Vision here and go take a dip?”
“Essentially. For safety’s sake, I should go with you.”
***
And that is why two days later they ended up having half a day to themselves. Wriothesley wasn’t sure of arrangements on Neuvillette’s side, but as for himself, when he visited for his daily checkup after the conversation, Sigewinne prescribed him time spent in the overworld without him even asking. And totally without a researcher’s gleam of interest in her eyes.
As they made their trek along the east coast of Thalatta Canyon, Neuvillette seemed deep in thought - well, deeper than usual, perhaps - as he listened to the newest anecdotes. When Wriothesley finished regaling him with the inglorious tale of two inmates who attempted to deep-fry a Lumitoile in their dormitory, he suddenly spoke up.
“Wriothesley, have you had any other… changes in your body?”
“...No. No, I haven’t.”
Neuvillette tilted his head slightly, the emotion behind the gesture unclear. “So you haven’t.”
“I had to adjust most movements in my routine. I’d say it’s enough for now?”
“Of course.” Neuvillette looked away to the side, but laced his fingers tighter with Wriothesley’s. “It must be… oh, we have arrived. There’s the “little private cove” I promised you.”
***
As he undressed, Wriothesley once again took in the traces of the recent events. If they were regular scars, he would pay them little attention - but oh, how different this time was. So barely-comprehensibly different. Just how different?
…Apparently, he got utterly lost in that question, as Neuvillette, who would’ve had several buttons and clasps more to deal with, was already in the water, the small splash of him resurfacing after diving being what roused Wriothesley from his thoughts.
“Ah. Sorry.” Neuvillette said bashfully, seeing Wriothesley turn to him, guessing the reason for the delay. “It hasn’t been an easy week, there’s been no time for anything but a bath - but of course, I should’ve waited for you”.
“No problem, Neuv.”
He stepped into water and walked until it was up to his chest. Neuvillette hummed questioningly, and he nodded in wordless agreement.
He still took a deep breath before moving forward and down, allowing himself to get submerged. The sight of Neuvillette, the thought of strength behind his deceptively slender arms, reassured him. He will not be left alone.
He exhaled.
Inhaled…
Oh.
It was, indeed, different from the Sourcewater Blessing. That formed something like a protective bubble, with the water never entering the Vision-holding diver’s mouth. But this… Wriothesley was at a loss - he definitely inhaled and exhaled water, but there was not a lick of desire to cough or otherwise expel it. His attention went to Neuvillette’s neck: the dragon’s breath was enabled by gills even in this almost human form, tiny bubbles of carbon dioxide and water leaving the slits at the sides of his neck. Wriothesley touched his own neck. Nothing of the sort.
He decided to leave it for the time being. The aquatic biology lecture could come later. He wasn’t even sure that this strange sensation, this… wholeness, could benefit from a scientific approach.
Instead, he swam a few experimental circles, finding that he didn’t need to breathe as rapidly as when compared to swimming with a Vision. His eyesight underwater, even when moving fast, was never compromised. The movement itself, however… it stayed as it was two weeks ago. Whatever he was imbued with, Neuvillette’s grace was not among those things.
Oh, Neuvillette. Wriothesley could watch him endlessly, how he became one with water, effortlessly outpacing him, twirling in the currents, leaving a faint glowing trail behind. In the moment, however, he only floated idly beside him, hair billowing around his head like a stormcloud.
Their eyes met, and really, there was no need for spoken words to convey the wonder and the admiration, the waters uniting them. But Neuvillette must’ve had something particular on his mind.
“I have… another hypothesis for you, my dear.” His voice, when underwater, reverberated, multiplying itself, as if a small chorus spoke beside him. A small smile played on his lips. “I will have to ask for some patience on your part.”
“Ask away.” Wriothesley answered, finding perfect clarity but no reverb in his own voice. His curiosity was piqued - Neuvillette clearly knew something he thought was worth saving as a surprise even when asked for disclosure.
“Close your eyes.”
He took Neuvillette’s hand so as not to drift away and shut his eyes.
“Think of the vastness of waters, how they connect the lands together”
“Think of underwater wonders, of bustling life.”
“Think of a rainbow spray of droplets. Of boundless blueness. Of depths darker than black. Feel them embracing you.”
“And open your eyes.”
Wriothesley opened his eyes.
The patches of his skin where mortal wounds have been were glowing. Glowing a soft blue, leaving a faint trail of light when he lifted his arm for a closer look. In strokes and splatters across his body, there was beautiful, luminous proof of what he went through, of who he was, of who they were.
Neuvillette reached out to cup Wriothesley’s chin in his hand, eyes overflowing with - reverence? Desire? Joy? His thumb swept tenderly under his eyes, across his nose.
Something dawned on Wriothesley. “My eyes - are they too?..”
“Indeed they are. The light is almost pure white - like mine, I suppose. Your eyes are naturally pale, so this effect… it’s striking. It’s beautiful.”
“You knew all this beforehand… but how did you know?”
At this, Neuvillette’s expression falls. “Oh. Oh, of course, I should’ve realized that you’d realize that I realized. I only wanted to let you experience some wonder in this aftermath - but your request should have been…”
Wriothesley interrupted him by throwing his arms around him, pulling him into a tight hug and nuzzling his face into his shoulder. “No. No, no. Don’t say that, Neuvillette. This was a beautiful reason.”
Neuvillette exhaled deeply, the movement of water tickling Wriothesley's neck. “Then it was during the conversation we had in your office. When I talked about the sights of different nations’ waters, your eyes just… lit up. Not in the sense novelists like to use that phrase in, of course - there, like right now, was light. Of all the peculiarities to gain possession of, this… Perhaps, the masters of chance are not strangers to wonder.”
Wriothesley clutched him tighter.
“I shall never forget this.”